Victoria Hurley-Schubert

By: centraljersey.com
A simple ridge on a road to market gave away Gen. George Washington’s position on a cold January morning in 1777, provoking the Battle of Princeton and turning the tides of the American Revolution.
A new study, "Battle of Princeton Mapping Project," provides critical insight into how the Colonies won their fight for freedom and battle strategy in the late 18th century. It also maps the battle into new areas of Princeton.
The significant findings include:
– A reinterpretation of the route of Gen. Hugh Mercer’s forces to and beyond the Thomas Clarke House.
– The position of Gen. Mercer’s forces on the battlefield at the start of the exchange.
– The composition and distribution of British forces and the location and orientation of the British battle line from the bridge across the Stony Brook to Nassau Hall.
– The location of the main battlefield on the state park and Institute for Advanced Study properties.
– The route of the American forces under Gen. George Washington toward Princeton.
– The composition of and the flanking maneuvers by American forces sent to take and destroy the bridge across the Stony Brook.
The key finding by John Milner Associates, a Philadelphia-based historic preservation and cultural resource firm, was the location of the Saw Mill Road, which was a back road into Princeton used to carry goods to market and the saw mill, said Jerry Hurwitz, president of the Princeton Battlefield Society. Gen. Washington learned of the location of the road from use of a spy map from Gen. John Cadwalader, the commander of the Philadelphia brigade. "It was a back-door way to come to Princeton," said Mr. Hurwitz. "The most direct way to come to Princeton from Trenton was Route 206, but obviously he wasn’t going that way because that’s where the British were."
One of the tasks for the year-long study was to delineate the geographical boundaries for the battle, which required looking at a lot of first-hand accounts of the battle, said Dr. Robert Selig, an independent project historian from Michigan who contributed to the report.
"We tried to find as many maps, deeds and roadways and tried to do a timeline of the participants," he said. "It changes the interpretation (of the battle) and we know more detail. Someone seriously counted the numbers (of soldiers), details like that is what this study has done. It’s an 800-page study on an event that took an hour and a half or so."
Another finding from the first-hand accounts is Gen. Mercer was on the newly discovered Saw Mill Road.
Gen. Mercer was originally thought to have been on Quaker Road, heading to the Stony Brook Bridge. With new evidence, the consultants concluded that Brig. Gen. Thomas Mifflin, in charge of a Pennsylvania brigade, was sent to destroy the Stony Brook Bridge so the British couldn’t turn around in Trenton and come back to Princeton, not Gen. Mercer as previously thought.
"Finally placing Gen. Mercer where he was and finding out what he was supposed to do," was one of the most significant finding of the study," said Mr. Selig. "Based on collecting and interpreting these sources we have a much better idea of who was where on the battlefield." Previous accounts have troops in the wrong direction on the wrong roads, he said.
The evidence included original battle accounts from soldiers that were given to the government in order to collect a military pension. There are 130 American solider accounts and 20 British accounts, including one court marshal case, said Kip Cherry, a longtime-member of the Princeton Battlefield Society.
"Some of these accounts have never been looked at before," said Ms. Cherry.
"Nobody put them all together," added Mr. Hurwitz.
The Battle of Princeton took place on the morning of Jan. 3, 1777. Two-thirds of Washington’s troops on were on the Saw Mill Road at 7:40 a.m. and were spotted by the British, who were on their way to Trenton along Route 206 by Jasna Polana, which caused a clash. Gen. Mercer, for whom Mercer County is named, was mortally wounded at this battle.
New research gives further evidence that Gen. Washington’s counterattack came from along the Saw Mill Road and converged at an orchard surrounding William Clarkes’ house, which is no longer standing, on a knoll to the northeast of Battlefield State Park. This battle, over in a matter of hours, took place on land from this location to the southeast of the current colonnade and just east of the old Mercer Oak tree.
William Clarke’s home has been lost to history and the Battlefield Society would like to find the foundation, said Ms. Cherry.
The Clarke family was among the earliest settlers in the area and the heaviest fighting in Princeton took place on its lands. Thomas Clarke’s home is still standing at the rear of Battlefield State Park and faces the Saw Mill Road. Gen. Mercer, the highest ranking soldier killed in the Battle of Princeton, received medical treatment and died in this home, which led to its preservation, said Ms. Cherry.
Another finding is a new regiment of German-American soldiers was also discovered on the north side of Route 206. This group of 500 men was sent to intercept the retreating British soldiers and get behind Princeton, Ms. Cherry and Mr. Hurwitz said.
"We finally know where Gen. Nicholas Hausegger was with the German regiment, way to the northwest of Route 206, which expands the battlefield area considerably," said Mr. Selig.
"It is a significant study, in that is appears to have placed several of the troop movements differently and changes a lot of what we thought we knew," said Cate Litvack, executive director of the Crossroads of the Revolution Association and former Princeton Township mayor. "The discovery of the Saw Mill Road would have been the way people marched across the Clarke farms; you’d rather take a road rather than cut a path. It’s astounding after all these years, new documents are found that change history."
The Crossroads of the American Revolution is the managing organization for the National Heritage Area, which includes Revolutionary War-era historical and natural resources from Bergen to Gloucester counties, including the Princeton Battlefield. The organization strives to protect, preserve and interpret the historic and natural resources of the American Revolution.
"Our Revolutionary and Colonial history seems to get forgotten," said Ms. "Mapping studies like these resurrect that history, which was remarkably significant."
Previous archeological evidence from a study done in 2006 found items such as broken bayonets, musket balls and grapeshot and coins, in the same locations as the first-hand accounts studied by Milner Associates for the new data. This support, both in artifacts and accounts, proves the key counterattack battle between the American and British soldiers outside of the preserved parklands.
"I’ve been excited about the recent study as it provides further insight into the Battle of Princeton and broadens our knowledge base in terms of battle locations, routes and strategy," said Chad Goerner, deputy mayor of Princeton Township and a member of the historic preservation committee. "This will only benefit our community in valuing the importance of the Battle of Princeton."
Battle of Princeton was the turning point of the American Revolution and gave Gen. Washington a key victory days before many soldiers were set to be discharged for lack of funds, the end of their contracts and low morale.
This battle concludes the 10 Crucial Days of the American Revolution in 1776 and 1777. In the 10 days succeeding Christmas, Gen. Washington had engaged the enemy in three battles and by winning two had restored belief in the possibility of ultimate victory, according to Crossroads of the American Revolution Association.
The 10 days begin with Gen. George Washington’s crossing of the Delaware and end with the Battle of Princeton along a back road in Princeton that proved to be a critical victory in the fight for American freedom from the British.
The new discoveries and the changes in battle theory are based on the discovery of new American and British accounts. These accounts included correspondence surrounding the death of Capt. William Leslie of the British 17th Regiment of Foot and the court martial proceedings of Cornet Henry Evatt of British 16th Regiment of Light Dragoons and a critical reading of previously known accounts.
The Milner firm also extensively used pension applications where soldiers were required to give an account of their service. New computer technologies, such as GPS, also helped locate the Saw Mill Road. The group also used previous archeological discoveries as an additional data source.
The study was funded by the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) and administered by the Princeton Battlefield Society. Following the guidance established by the ABPP, the project team applied key terrain, observation, cover and concealment, obstacles, and avenues of approach and retreat military terrain analysis of battlefield.